Judith Dienst ~ Lawrence Halloran ~ Dawn Price Price ~ Joan Prouty ~ Alonda West Control group – “In experimentation, group of subjects or conditions that is matched as closely as possible with experimental group, but is not exposed to any experimental treatment” (615 glossary).
According to Ross and Morrison (2005), “Experimental methods have been used extensively for many years to conduct research in education and psychology. However, application of experiments to investigate technology and other instructional innovations in higher education settings have been relatively limited.” (p. 39) In an education setting, using a control group means identifying a parallel student cohort who are exposed to the same material as the subject (or experimental) group but who were not exposed to the instructional strategy or technology under study. Assuming the two groups are the same in terms of critical demographics and characteristics (e.g. age, education level), the impacts and effects of an intervention can be measured in the differences in assessment data between the subject and control group. Perhaps the observation that these types of experimental studies have been limited can be attributed to the additional complexity and cost of randomized trials and the ethical issues posed by denying students a potentially beneficial instructional experience. On July 22, the Department of Health and Human Services published a notice of proposed rulemaking containing amendments to what is called The Common Rule which governs the use of human subjects in federally funded research. (http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/index.html) Part of the Common Rule regime deals with informed consent and the capacity and autonomy of research subjects to understand the benefits and risks of their participation. The Washington Post story on the proposed changes noted that, “The proposal would also exempt from board review research that involves surveys and interviews that poses little or no risk to people — a change expected to be especially welcomed by social scientists.” (Brown, 2011, para. 10) This social scientist does not welcome that exemption. Words can have as cutting an impact on students as scalpels and I believe surveys and other experimental protocols administered to students should be reviewed and monitored with the same rigor as any clinical trial.
Epistemology - "The branch of philosophy that studies the origin, nature, methods, and limits of knowledge" (615 glossary, citing McKechnie, 1979).
The study of epistemology focuses on our means for acquiring knowledge through empiricism (experience) or rationalism. This branch of philosophy is intended to provoke learning by raising questions like:
What can we know?
How can we know?
Why do we know some things, but not others?
How do we acquire knowledge?Etc…
Modern education is drawn from the study of epistemology which explores how we learn as humans and this philosophical knowledge has been applied to the field of philosophy of education from philosopher John Dewey who is considered the father of progressive education.
According to VanPatten & Davidson (2010, p.129) a call for economic and social justice in the US during the early twentieth century inspired Dewey to address reform in his educational writings (VanPattern & Davidson, 2010, p.129). VanPatten & Davidson (2010, p.129) states, “progressive education focuses on real-world problem-solving activities in a democratic and cooperative learning environment” (VanPatten & Davidson, 2010, p. 129). The progressive education approach is vital to classes such as government and economics as it will provide insight to potential politicians and economist as to how to avert the same conditions in the future that our country faces today.
Equal interval scale – “A scale of measurement, which can be used to measure the difference, or distance, between two general states or points” (615 glossary).
With the equal interval scale, the same unit of measurement is used throughout the scale. An example would be Celsius or Kelvin thermometers or meter/yard sticks—each centimeter must be the same. In my science classroom, the aforementioned examples would be used by both me and students during labs. Preece has also stated that because the differences between interval scale measurements are on a ratio scale, calculation of variances is permitted (Preece, 2002, p. 364). This type of scale is useful in examining raw test scores, abilities, and measurement of student change.
Hypothesis –A supposition made as a basis for reasoning…a starting point for an investigation.
All research has a purpose, a reason as to why the study is occurring. The hypothesis is that blueprint that kicks off the research. Not only with traditional research, a hypothesis could be applied in a journalism course. As a reporter or journalist is on the hunt to obtain the scope on a particular event, happening, or story, they must first decide what angle they want to shed light on. Essentially, they must formulate a hypothesis for their story. This is what students would need to do in a unit on news reporting.
Likert scale – “An assessment instrument consisting of a series of statements with which students indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement” (Roblyer & Doering, 2010, p. 428).
According to Roblyer and Doering, when the educational objective is changed or improved attitudes, a survey using a Likert scale is an effective assessment strategy (p. 57). Particularly if administered both before and after a discrete intervention, changes in perceptions (generally captured along a five or six item scale of agreement) can be detected. There is an ongoing debate about the proper statistical analysis of Likert scale data. Some hold it is purely ordinal, while others contend it yields interval data as well. (Jamieson, 2004; Carifio & Perla, 2008) There are also question about the under-response biases and other reliability issues, particularly when administered to students with disabilities (Hartley & MacLean, 2006). Nevertheless, Likert scale assessments will be a tool I use in my classroom because social studies are very much about attitudes and students’ views about themselves and their place in society. The technique is widely used in product marketing, and students are consumers of their government. It is important that they know their opinions matter.
Longitudinal data - “Correlational, statistical data aimed at identifying a trend over a period of time through repeated observations of the same items over long periods of time” (615 glossary).
Longitudinal data is gathered to study and document change and is associated with quantitative research studies. Singer and Willett indicate three important features to gathering longitudinal data:
“Three or more waves of data
An outcome whose values change systematically over time
A sensible metric for clocking time”
(Singer & Willett, 2003, p. 9). Data samples should be substantive enough to allow researchers to model the process of change over time. Smaller data samples require stricter assumptions, while “additional waves allow you to posit more flexible models with less restrictive assumptions” (Singer & Willett, 2003, p. 10). The time metric should reflect the period of time that indicates the level of change which is most useful to the intended outcome and will best address the research question. Longitudinal data systems are used by “key stakeholders – including governors, legislators, chief state school officers, school board members …” to “proactively alter policies, programs, and practices to spur continuous improvement at every level – from individual students to the system as a whole” (Data Quality Campaign, 2009, p. 2).
Nominal Scale - “A list of categories to which objects can be classified” (615 glossary).
Nominal scales are qualitative. Religious preferences, race, sex are examples of nominal scales as is a YES/NO scale. Statistically, most of the data is seen as mode. The nominal scale could be used in the classroom by the teacher as a means of assessing demographics. Because of the emphasis on categories, the nominal scale is often used in the science classroom. An example of use in the science classroom would be with categorizing rocks as sedimentary, metamorphic, or igneous.
Observation – Viewing of ongoing behavior.
Whether naturalistic or participant observation, students will be a part of one or the other in regards to research for a project and/or research. Depending on the desired results, students will either intervene or not to produce the proper outcome. As for incorporation in the classroom, students may opt for a naturalistic approach in obtaining information for a story, simply obtain information and not intervene.
Ordinal scale – “A measurement scale that assigns values to objects based on their ranking with respect to one another” (615 glossary).
This scale ranks order (1st, 2nd, 3rd) but not size or degree of difference. In education a Likert scale is an example of the ordinal scale. In research, many dependent variables will be measured on the ordinal scale. “Data possessing an ordinal scale will not satisfy the assumption of normality needed in many statistical procedures and may produce biased statistical results that threaten the validity of inferences” (Harwell, 2003). In the science classroom, rocks can be identified using the Mohs’ scale, which is an example of an ordinal scale.
Practitioner Research - Practitioner research enables practitioners in educational settings to study and reflect on their practice in a systematic way for the purpose of improving education and learning.
Practitioner researchers are educators, who conduct research on their own practice, and, based upon their own research as well as that of others, learn to recognize and enact needed changes in their practice (Enthoven & deBruijn,2010). They can be educators in K-12, postsecondary educators, and educators working in non-traditional educational settings, such as cultural institutions. Practitioner research has the potential to impact education at the student, classroom, school, and district levels.
Qualitative research – “Investigative methodologies described as ethnographic, naturalistic, anthropological, field, or participant observer research, which emphasizes the importance of looking at variables in the natural setting in which they are found.” (615 glossary)
Qualitative research is grounded in constructivist theories that meaning is subjectively made not objectively found and that “all observations are theory laden.” (Niaz, 2009) It is the systematic capture and analysis of information on human motivation and behavior – attempting to probe the questions how and why, as opposed to quantitative measures of what, where, when and how many. In social science research, particularly education, qualitative research is widely used but controversial. In what has become known as the research paradigm wars, qualitative studies have been criticized as not truly scientific and therefore without findings that can be generalized to solve problems (Symonds & Gorard, 201). But, inasmuch as qualitative inquiry does proceed from a hypothesis, identify variables and look for causal relationships, it uses the scientific method while placing results within critical contexts e.g. cultural. (Niaz, 2009) Since so much of teaching is about motivation and student self-actuation, qualitative research can provide insights and solutions to the educational issues of learners that purely statistical data cannot. In my social studies classroom, qualitative inquiry and discussion will be central since there are so often no statistically “right” answers to policy questions, but many responses that can be valid if supported by authentic qualitative evidence.
Quantitative research – “The use of sampling techniques (such as surveys) whose findings may be expressed numerically, and are amenable to statistical manipulation enabling the researcher to estimate future events or quantities.” (615 glossary).
The goal of quantitative research is to determine the relationship between independent and dependent variables in a set population. Quantitative research can be either descriptive, which indicates the relationship between variables, or experimental, which establishes causality between variables. This research methodology utilizes statistical or mathematical means to conclusively measure results (Creswell, 2002). An example of this type of research would be a study on the association between student achievement in High School ABC and the existing student-teacher ratios in their classrooms.
Simpson’s Paradox - or Yule-Simpson effect is observed when the relationship between two categorical variables is reversed after a third variable is introduced to the analysis of their association, or alternatively where the relationship between two variables differs within subgroups compared to that observed for the aggregated data (Yu-Kang, Gunnell & Gilthorpe, 2008).
Simpson's paradox for continuous data: a positive trend appears for two separate groups (blue and red), a negative trend (black, dashed) appears when the data are combined (Schutz, 2007). Simpson’s paradox is an important effect taken into account by education administrators when in their initial planning and selection of the variables/data to be measured. After they collect the data, the only way to try to avoid this pitfall is to visually examine meaningful subsets of the data.
Structured Interviews or Questionnaires – “A fixed format interview or questionnaires, in which all questions are prepared beforehand and are put in the same order for each interviewee.” (615 glossary).
“The structure is provided to obtain consistency from one situation to the next. In survey research where hundreds of people are contacted by several different interviewers, structured formats are essential in getting information which can be combined. The Gallup and Harris polls utilize mostly structured interviews to make their projections of public opinion” (Sommer & Sommer, 1997, p. 109). Structured interviews are not necessarily feasible in a classroom setting due to time constraints, however questionnaires could be used to help determine student familiarity with particular content, processes, or technology applications.
Summary – Putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s).
A summary could either be written or verbal (in regards to a presentation of research). Students could potentially provide a brief summary of their research and investigation regarding their news story. It would be beneficial for students to share what snags happen along the way as they conducted their investigation. Additionally, many times a news report its self is a summary as it often reflects a past event or happening (Driscoll & Brizee, 2010) .
EDTC615a Wiki Project - Group D
Judith Dienst ~ Lawrence Halloran ~ Dawn Price Price ~ Joan Prouty ~ Alonda WestControl group – “In experimentation, group of subjects or conditions that is matched as closely as possible with experimental group, but is not exposed to any experimental treatment” (615 glossary).
According to Ross and Morrison (2005), “Experimental methods have been used extensively for many years to conduct research in education and psychology. However, application of experiments to investigate technology and other instructional innovations in higher education settings have been relatively limited.” (p. 39) In an education setting, using a control group means identifying a parallel student cohort who are exposed to the same material as the subject (or experimental) group but who were not exposed to the instructional strategy or technology under study. Assuming the two groups are the same in terms of critical demographics and characteristics (e.g. age, education level), the impacts and effects of an intervention can be measured in the differences in assessment data between the subject and control group. Perhaps the observation that these types of experimental studies have been limited can be attributed to the additional complexity and cost of randomized trials and the ethical issues posed by denying students a potentially beneficial instructional experience. On July 22, the Department of Health and Human Services published a notice of proposed rulemaking containing amendments to what is called The Common Rule which governs the use of human subjects in federally funded research. (http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/index.html) Part of the Common Rule regime deals with informed consent and the capacity and autonomy of research subjects to understand the benefits and risks of their participation. The Washington Post story on the proposed changes noted that, “The proposal would also exempt from board review research that involves surveys and interviews that poses little or no risk to people — a change expected to be especially welcomed by social scientists.” (Brown, 2011, para. 10) This social scientist does not welcome that exemption. Words can have as cutting an impact on students as scalpels and I believe surveys and other experimental protocols administered to students should be reviewed and monitored with the same rigor as any clinical trial.
Epistemology - "The branch of philosophy that studies the origin, nature, methods, and limits of knowledge" (615 glossary, citing McKechnie, 1979).
The study of epistemology focuses on our means for acquiring knowledge through empiricism (experience) or rationalism. This branch of philosophy is intended to provoke learning by raising questions like:
Modern education is drawn from the study of epistemology which explores how we learn as humans and this philosophical knowledge has been applied to the field of philosophy of education from philosopher John Dewey who is considered the father of progressive education.
According to VanPatten & Davidson (2010, p.129) a call for economic and social justice in the US during the early twentieth century inspired Dewey to address reform in his educational writings (VanPattern & Davidson, 2010, p.129). VanPatten & Davidson (2010, p.129) states, “progressive education focuses on real-world problem-solving activities in a democratic and cooperative learning environment” (VanPatten & Davidson, 2010, p. 129). The progressive education approach is vital to classes such as government and economics as it will provide insight to potential politicians and economist as to how to avert the same conditions in the future that our country faces today.
Equal interval scale – “A scale of measurement, which can be used to measure the difference, or distance, between two general states or points” (615 glossary).
With the equal interval scale, the same unit of measurement is used throughout the scale. An example would be Celsius or Kelvin thermometers or meter/yard sticks—each centimeter must be the same. In my science classroom, the aforementioned examples would be used by both me and students during labs. Preece has also stated that because the differences between interval scale measurements are on a ratio scale, calculation of variances is permitted (Preece, 2002, p. 364). This type of scale is useful in examining raw test scores, abilities, and measurement of student change.
Hypothesis – A supposition made as a basis for reasoning…a starting point for an investigation.
All research has a purpose, a reason as to why the study is occurring. The hypothesis is that blueprint that kicks off the research. Not only with traditional research, a hypothesis could be applied in a journalism course. As a reporter or journalist is on the hunt to obtain the scope on a particular event, happening, or story, they must first decide what angle they want to shed light on. Essentially, they must formulate a hypothesis for their story. This is what students would need to do in a unit on news reporting.
Likert scale – “An assessment instrument consisting of a series of statements with which students indicate their degree of agreement or disagreement” (Roblyer & Doering, 2010, p. 428).
According to Roblyer and Doering, when the educational objective is changed or improved attitudes, a survey using a Likert scale is an effective assessment strategy (p. 57). Particularly if administered both before and after a discrete intervention, changes in perceptions (generally captured along a five or six item scale of agreement) can be detected. There is an ongoing debate about the proper statistical analysis of Likert scale data. Some hold it is purely ordinal, while others contend it yields interval data as well. (Jamieson, 2004; Carifio & Perla, 2008) There are also question about the under-response biases and other reliability issues, particularly when administered to students with disabilities (Hartley & MacLean, 2006). Nevertheless, Likert scale assessments will be a tool I use in my classroom because social studies are very much about attitudes and students’ views about themselves and their place in society. The technique is widely used in product marketing, and students are consumers of their government. It is important that they know their opinions matter.
Longitudinal data - “Correlational, statistical data aimed at identifying a trend over a period of time through repeated observations of the same items over long periods of time” (615 glossary).
Longitudinal data is gathered to study and document change and is associated with quantitative research studies. Singer and Willett indicate three important features to gathering longitudinal data:
- “Three or more waves of data
- An outcome whose values change systematically over time
- A sensible metric for clocking time”
(Singer & Willett, 2003, p. 9). Data samples should be substantive enough to allow researchers to model the process of change over time. Smaller data samples require stricter assumptions, while “additional waves allow you to posit more flexible models with less restrictive assumptions” (Singer & Willett, 2003, p. 10). The time metric should reflect the period of time that indicates the level of change which is most useful to the intended outcome and will best address the research question. Longitudinal data systems are used by “key stakeholders – including governors, legislators, chief state school officers, school board members …” to “proactively alter policies, programs, and practices to spur continuous improvement at every level – from individual students to the system as a whole” (Data Quality Campaign, 2009, p. 2).Nominal Scale - “A list of categories to which objects can be classified” (615 glossary).
Nominal scales are qualitative. Religious preferences, race, sex are examples of nominal scales as is a YES/NO scale. Statistically, most of the data is seen as mode. The nominal scale could be used in the classroom by the teacher as a means of assessing demographics. Because of the emphasis on categories, the nominal scale is often used in the science classroom. An example of use in the science classroom would be with categorizing rocks as sedimentary, metamorphic, or igneous.
Observation – Viewing of ongoing behavior.
Whether naturalistic or participant observation, students will be a part of one or the other in regards to research for a project and/or research. Depending on the desired results, students will either intervene or not to produce the proper outcome. As for incorporation in the classroom, students may opt for a naturalistic approach in obtaining information for a story, simply obtain information and not intervene.
Ordinal scale – “A measurement scale that assigns values to objects based on their ranking with respect to one another” (615 glossary).
This scale ranks order (1st, 2nd, 3rd) but not size or degree of difference. In education a Likert scale is an example of the ordinal scale. In research, many dependent variables will be measured on the ordinal scale. “Data possessing an ordinal scale will not satisfy the assumption of normality needed in many statistical procedures and may produce biased statistical results that threaten the validity of inferences” (Harwell, 2003). In the science classroom, rocks can be identified using the Mohs’ scale, which is an example of an ordinal scale.
Practitioner Research - Practitioner research enables practitioners in educational settings to study and reflect on their practice in a systematic way for the purpose of improving education and learning.
Practitioner researchers are educators, who conduct research on their own practice, and, based upon their own research as well as that of others, learn to recognize and enact needed changes in their practice (Enthoven & deBruijn,2010). They can be educators in K-12, postsecondary educators, and educators working in non-traditional educational settings, such as cultural institutions. Practitioner research has the potential to impact education at the student, classroom, school, and district levels.
Qualitative research – “Investigative methodologies described as ethnographic, naturalistic, anthropological, field, or participant observer research, which emphasizes the importance of looking at variables in the natural setting in which they are found.” (615 glossary)
Qualitative research is grounded in constructivist theories that meaning is subjectively made not objectively found and that “all observations are theory laden.” (Niaz, 2009) It is the systematic capture and analysis of information on human motivation and behavior – attempting to probe the questions how and why, as opposed to quantitative measures of what, where, when and how many. In social science research, particularly education, qualitative research is widely used but controversial. In what has become known as the research paradigm wars, qualitative studies have been criticized as not truly scientific and therefore without findings that can be generalized to solve problems (Symonds & Gorard, 201). But, inasmuch as qualitative inquiry does proceed from a hypothesis, identify variables and look for causal relationships, it uses the scientific method while placing results within critical contexts e.g. cultural. (Niaz, 2009) Since so much of teaching is about motivation and student self-actuation, qualitative research can provide insights and solutions to the educational issues of learners that purely statistical data cannot. In my social studies classroom, qualitative inquiry and discussion will be central since there are so often no statistically “right” answers to policy questions, but many responses that can be valid if supported by authentic qualitative evidence.
Quantitative research – “The use of sampling techniques (such as surveys) whose findings may be expressed numerically, and are amenable to statistical manipulation enabling the researcher to estimate future events or quantities.” (615 glossary).
The goal of quantitative research is to determine the relationship between independent and dependent variables in a set population. Quantitative research can be either descriptive, which indicates the relationship between variables, or experimental, which establishes causality between variables. This research methodology utilizes statistical or mathematical means to conclusively measure results (Creswell, 2002). An example of this type of research would be a study on the association between student achievement in High School ABC and the existing student-teacher ratios in their classrooms.
Simpson’s Paradox - or Yule-Simpson effect is observed when the relationship between two categorical variables is reversed after a third variable is introduced to the analysis of their association, or alternatively where the relationship between two variables differs within subgroups compared to that observed for the aggregated data (Yu-Kang, Gunnell & Gilthorpe, 2008).
Simpson's paradox for continuous data: a positive trend appears for two separate groups (blue and red), a negative trend (black, dashed) appears when the data are combined (Schutz, 2007). Simpson’s paradox is an important effect taken into account by education administrators when in their initial planning and selection of the variables/data to be measured. After they collect the data, the only way to try to avoid this pitfall is to visually examine meaningful subsets of the data.
Structured Interviews or Questionnaires – “A fixed format interview or questionnaires, in which all questions are prepared beforehand and are put in the same order for each interviewee.” (615 glossary).
“The structure is provided to obtain consistency from one situation to the next. In survey research where hundreds of people are contacted by several different interviewers, structured formats are essential in getting information which can be combined. The Gallup and Harris polls utilize mostly structured interviews to make their projections of public opinion” (Sommer & Sommer, 1997, p. 109). Structured interviews are not necessarily feasible in a classroom setting due to time constraints, however questionnaires could be used to help determine student familiarity with particular content, processes, or technology applications.
Summary – Putting the main idea(s) into your own words, including only the main point(s).
A summary could either be written or verbal (in regards to a presentation of research). Students could potentially provide a brief summary of their research and investigation regarding their news story. It would be beneficial for students to share what snags happen along the way as they conducted their investigation. Additionally, many times a news report its self is a summary as it often reflects a past event or happening (Driscoll & Brizee, 2010) .
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